Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

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DE RUEHTV #3030/01 2921014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 191014Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0956
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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0496
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STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
NSC FOR NEA STAFF

SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA
HQ USAF FOR XOXX
DA WASHDC FOR SASA
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA
CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019

JERUSALEM ALSO ICD
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL
ROME FOR MFO

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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS

SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast

2. Iran

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Key stories in the media:
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The Jerusalem Post reported that President Bush is sending National
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley to the Middle East next week and
that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return soon after
that. The Jerusalem Post also reported that Secretary Rice was
encouraged by what she heard in the region, while still
acknowledging splits between the two sides.

All media reported on PM Ehud Olmert one-day visit to Moscow to see
Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Jerusalem Post quoted a
senior official in Olmert's office that Olmert returned "with an
understanding that Russia is concerned about Iran having nuclear
weapons." Olmert told Yediot: QWe held a very thorough, impressive
and encouraging conversation. I was very encouraged by what
President Putin said to me on the Iranian issue and also about other
issues that are causing us profound concern, such as the expected
arms deals between Russia and Syria.

Major media reported that on Thursday President Bush met Defense
Minister Ehud Barak in Washington. The radio reported that Barak
thanked Bush for increasing military aid to Israel and that
diplomatic pressure on Iran should be increased. The Jerusalem Post
reported that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Nicholas Burns told the newspaper on Wednesday that the UN Security
Council is taking too long in introducing additional sanctions
against Iran.

All media reported that the Winograd Commission announced that it
will publish its final report by the end of the year. The IDF
Advocate General still plans to petition the High Court of Justice
for a delay to allow those individuals whose reputations may be
tarnished to respond before the report is issued. Makor
Rishon-Hatzofe quoted senior Labor Party members as saying that they
will topple the government after the publication of the report.
Ha'aretz reported that Amos Gilad, the head of the
Political-Military Bureau at the Defense Ministry, turned down a
proposal by UN envoy Geir Pedersen that Israel enter into
negotiations with Lebanon over Sheba Farms. Pedersen noted that the
evidence boosts Lebanese claims to the area.

Leading media reported that a majority of Knesset members --
including 13 from Kadima -- signed a petition this week calling for
Jerusalem to remain undivided in a move that could tie Olmert's
hands ahQd of the Annapolis meeting. Ha'aretz reported that Shas
party leader and Industry, Trade, and Employment Minister Eli Yishai
told the newspaper in Washington that any mention of Jerusalem in
the document will lead to Shas leaving the government coalition.
The Jerusalem Post quoted Shas sources as saying that their mentor
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef made similar remarks on Thursday.

Israel Radio quoted the Washington based Internet newspaper World
Tribune as saying that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's health has
deteriorated over the past 24 hours, but that his life is not in
danger.

Yediot reported that on Thursday President Shimon Peres compared
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler and Stalin. Major
media quoted Peres as saying that there is unquestionable evidence
that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Major media quoted Peres
as saying that six would-be suicide bombers have been caught in the
past three weeks.

Yediot reported that Arab and Islamic countries, including Egypt and
Iran, have recently introduced an amendment to a proposed UNESCO
resolution encouraging Holocaust education around the world. The
amendment, which is supported by 70 countries, says that the
Holocaust is not unique.

Major media reported that the IDF reprimanded Brig. Gen. Yair Golan,
the former IDF West Bank commander, for making use of the "neighbor
procedure" (using human shields).

Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday Finance
Minister Roni Bar-On left for the annual convention of the IMF and
the World Bank to try to convince these organizations to support
Israel's bid to be admitted into the OECD.

Yediot and other media reported that Israel knew for years that the
body of Ethiopian-Israeli Gabriel Dawit was in Lebanon, but that it
did not inform the family. Dawit's body was returned to Israel in
this week's "small deal" with Hizbullah.

Various media cited comments by Larissa Trimbovler, the wife of
Yitzhak Rabin's assassin Yigal Amir, that contrary to media reports,
she does not plan to give birth to the couple's son on the
anniversary of the assassination.

Leading media reported that on Thursday four Palestinian activists
-- two from Fatah and two from Hamas -- were killed in factional
violence in Gaza.

Major media reported that FM Tzipi Livni protested against
anti-Semitic remarks last week by Belarus President Aleksandr
Lukashenko.

The Jerusalem Post cited an AP wire report quoting US mayors
visiting Israel that they are interested in joint projects,
following a tour of leading biotechnology companies.

Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli surgeons have
performed circumcisions on hundreds of males in Africa as part of
AIDS prevention. Today Channel 2-TV will start broadcasting a
documentary series on Israelis working in international
organizations around the world.

------------
1. Mideast:
------------

Summary:
--------

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn and Washington correspondent
Shmuel Rosner and wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz:
"[Secretary Rice] understands Israel's security concerns, but ... if
the current opportunity is missed, Israel will find itself facing
the forces of radical Islam -- and also a less friendly
administration in America."
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "[Secretary Rice's]
apocalyptic vision is simple and chilling.... Rice is not
[anti-Israel] -- far from it.... Still, the continuation of the
occupation is perceived by her not only as a political and military
problem, but also as a moral problem."

Block Quotes:
-------------

I. "Rice's Marketing Trip"

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn and Washington correspondent
Shmuel Rosner and wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz
(10/19): "Secretary Rice devoted her visit to the Middle East this
week to aggressive marketing of her initiative. Her message was
that it is very much worth Israel's while to achieve an agreement
with the Palestinians while Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are still on the scene, and
while the friendly Bush administration is still in power. She
understands Israel's security concerns, but statesmanship is
sometimes about making a choice between the bad and the awful, and
if the current opportunity is missed, Israel will find itself facing
the forces of radical Islam -- and also a less friendly
administration in America."

II. "Rice's Truth"

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/19): "In meetings
[Condoleezza Rice] held here, she compared the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict to her academic area of specialization: the Soviet Union.
'The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Five years before the
collapse, no one thought it could happen. Two years before the
collapse, one year before the collapse, no one predicted the
collapse. The international arena is influenced by all kinds of
factors that can be monitored and analyzed. What cannot be
predicted is the moment in which all these factors come together and
create a change.' She believes that the Palestinians and the
Israelis face a similar juncture. Nothing is certain, but it is
worth trying. We must try. A comprehensive arrangement will not
come of this, apparently, not now and perhaps not by the end of the
current administration's term, but we must prove to the Palestinians
that there is a chance for an arrangement, otherwise.... Her
apocalyptic vision is simple and chilling. 'If we do not prove that
there is a chance for an arrangement,' she said to her Israeli
interlocutors, 'you will not get Hamas in the West Bank. You will
get a different Hamas, with widespread Iranian infiltration, with
al-Qaida. Who would have imagined five years ago, that there would
be cooperation between Hamas and Iran? Today it is part of the
reality in Gaza'.... The moralizing attitude, generated by Sunday
sermons of Evangelist preachers in southern churches, led President
Jimmy Carter to achieve a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt,
and then led him to blind identification with the Palestinian
suffering, to the verge of hating Israel. Rice is not there -- far
from it. She is too loyal to Bush's basic approach. She is too
pragmatic. Still, the continuation of the occupation is perceived
by her not only as a political and military problem, but also as a
moral problem."

III. "Why Failure Is Not an Option at Annapolis"

David Kimche, former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, in
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (10/19): "A one-state
solution is rapidly gaining supporters among Palestinian radical
elements. A failure in Annapolis could eventually tip the balance
in its favor.... Eventually we will have to make the choice -- to
make the most of the opportunity that exists to end the conflict, or
to be drawn, willy-nilly, into the unknown of a one-state solution,
with all its dire consequences."

---------
2. Iran:
---------

Summary:
--------

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: " The
'anti-war' camp has to wake up and realize that, by blocking
effective non-military measures, it is paving the road to war."

Block Quotes:
-------------

"Pacifist Warmongers"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/19):
"Ostensibly, the world is dividing into two camps: those warning of
war and those warning against war.... In such a division, those
willing to contemplate war or saying that Iran must be stopped are
being painted as the 'pro-war' camp, while those speaking against
force or for tolerating a nuclear Iran are the 'anti-war' faction.
But is it really how an astute observer should look at things, as if
there are pro-war and anti-war camps? In fact, these labels should
be reversed. The 'pro-war' camp not only does not want war, but is
working to prevent war much more than is the 'anti-war' camp. By
the same token, it is the 'anti-war' camp that is misguidedly
ensuring that war will come.... The 'anti-war' camp has to wake up
and realize that, by blocking effective non-military measures, it is
paving the road to war."

JONES

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